Parish of Thornthwaite cum Braithwaite with Newlands

Annual Parochial Church Meeting 7th April 2019

tbnchurches.net

Our purpose is to serve Jesus Christ and share God’s love with all THORNTHWAITE cum BRAITHWAITE with NEWLANDS ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2019 Held in St Herbert’s Church Hall, Braithwaite at 7pm On Sunday 7th April 2019

AGENDA

Annual Parish Meeting

1. Apologies for absence.

2. Election of Churchwardens

Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM)

1. Review and approval of the minutes of the Thornthwaite cum Braithwaite with Newlands APCM held on 8th April 2018.

2. Matters arising

3. Election of members of the Parochial Church Council

4. Election of Deanery Synod reps

5. Election of Sidespersons

6. Election of Independent Examiner

7. Report of the Church Electoral Roll Officer

8. Reports of PCC and other reports

9. Any other business

Page 2 of 12 PCC Annual Report 2018-19 Introduction This report provides a summary of the proceedings of the parochial church council (PCC) and the activities of the parish of Thornthwaite, Braithwaite and Newlands (TBN). It also includes the churchwarden’s reports, an update on the electoral roll, feedback from Deanery Synod and the Treasurer’s report.

Ministry Focus on Core Priorities A key driver for the ministry and mission of the parish has been the awayday in 2017 which built on the previously agreed statement of purpose and resulted in agreed values and priorities. Messy Church and a focus on prayer were two key priorities.

Our purpose is to serve Jesus Christ and share God’s love with all

We Value: • Having a go – because it’s ok not to get it right first time • Love – because without love, our deeds are worth nothing and we cannot claim to be followers of Jesus • Welcome – not just what we say at the door but built into everything we do and how we relate • Prayer – because then we know we are depending on God’s strength, not our own • Fun – enjoying being a Christian community here in this special part of God’s world

We revisited the priorities at PCC in July 2018 and agreed a continued focus on Messy Church and prayer, and in addition: • To run PCC Tonight exploring the role and ways of working of the PCC, as well as the wider mission and ministry of the church. • To set up a group to explore the future of Newlands Church.

PCC Tonight PCC has been using ‘PCC Tonight’, a 6-session course from CPAS, to explore its purpose and ways of working. We’ve had a number of helpful discussions and we look forward to completing the course during 2019-20.

In November we agreed that: ‘The PCC is a group of people, who with the vicar, oversee the life of the church to ensure we are focussed on what Jesus wants us to do. We aim to seek God’s will, to work well together, reflect our values and take action for the future.’

Specific objectives for the PCC: 1. It exists to enable the church to play its part in God’s mission to his world. 2. It exists to cooperate with the minister in sharing leadership 3. It exists to ensure compliance with charity law and ecclesiastical law, in particular in the areas of safe- guarding, finance, employment and appointments. 4. It exists to care for the buildings and churchyard so that they may be best suited for the purpose of the church’s ministry and mission. 5. It exists to be a channel of consultation within the wider church through its synodical structures on matters that affect the Church locally and nationally.

Each PCC member voted a for one of these objectives as the most important – (9.5 votes for no.1 and 4 votes for no.4, with half a vote for no.2)

Page 3 of 12 Messy Church We started our trial period of Messy Church at 4.00pm on 12th November 2017. We reviewed the trial after the first 7 monthly gatherings and agreed to keep going.

A small group has met each month to plan the sessions and a much larger group has provided support month by month – helping with activities; set up, catering and washing up. It’s been wonderful to see how much support there has been, and each session has worked well with the changing team of volunteers.

We’ve publicised Messy Church mainly through Braithwaite School. Initially we had 24 parents and children. More recently numbers have been lower, with typically 3-4 families, but since we started 15 families have come at least once to Messy Church, and we regularly have 25-35 people for the meal. Messy Church itself has been great, with worship in the celebration time, children enjoying the activities and a shared meal with volunteers, parents and children eating together. Messy Church has been church, as planned.

We ran Messy Church in school very successfully in December 2018 at the suggestion of some of the parents.

For 2019-20 we plan to keep going with Messy Church, meeting together as a congregation and sharing God’s love each month. Developments will be incremental from month to month. Thank you again to everyone who is part of this.

Prayer We have continued to focus on prayer through the weekly service of Morning Prayer on Thursdays (8.30am) and through the last Friday of the month prayer meetings (10.30am in St Herbert’s). As well as being part of these meetings there are always opportunities to lead the prayers of intercession on a Sunday.

A new, monthly ladies’ prayer breakfast has started in the Mission Community and is a valuable gathering.

Friday Group (Journey) The small group continues to meet for Bible study and prayer on Fridays at 10.30am, it’s a really valuable opportunity to share life and explore faith. Recently the group has been studying the readings for the coming Sunday and it’s been very helpful.

Christmas and the Church Year There were some wonderful services at Christmas and we were blessed to have a full church for several services. Harvest and Easter also provided good opportunities to be welcoming and to share the good news.

Other Aspects of Mission and Ministry Mission and ministry are about every aspect of our lives, not just specific church related activities. Many members of the church are active in the community in all sorts of ways and we give thanks for this.

During the year we have had a number of baptisms, funerals and one wedding. People often request to bring ashes to be buried in our churchyards and for those with connections here, we are able to do that.

Pastoral care is an important part of our ministry and as well as Jackie William’s particular role, many people offer care and support in different ways. Pastoral ministry is one shared between the priest in charge and members of the church, it really is part of village life.

PCC Activity The section above on Ministry relates to key areas of PCC focus and activity. There was a lot of other PCC business, which is summarised here.

Maintenance work at all three churches was a major item of business. We are very grateful to the church wardens and Peter Williams for the vast amount of work they do caring for these buildings. When it comes to maintenance of a church building what seems a simple job, and would be at home, often requires a lot of work.

Page 4 of 12 We would also like to thank the many, many other people who contribute in so many very important ways for example: • Distributing the parish magazine. • Providing flowers and the decorations at Easter and Christmas. • Providing coffee. • Organising lunch. • Running Coffee and Chat and other events. • Contributing to services – prayers, readings, chalice, sidesman. • Looking after the buildings and churchyards including the Friends of St Mary’s, Friends of Newlands, helpers with Newlands cleaning days. • Providing music. • Taking and managing hall bookings at St Herberts’. • Pastoral visiting. • Fundraising at Newlands including the Newlands Teas and sales of merchandise.

Other PCC activities in 2018-19 included: • Follow up to the quinquennial inspection (QI) at Newlands. • Confirming that we are a Fairtrade parish. • Review of the Moving Mountains Mission. • Planning for services and events: Harvest; Christmas; Lent; Easter. • Regular scrutiny of budgets and expenses. • Review of the governance of the JAP Trust. • Introducing an additional report as part of the annual accounts to help clarify the contribution of the JAP Trust. • Establishing GDPR arrangements. • Review of Safeguarding (see separate section of this report). • Developing plans for the future of Newlands Church. • Developing plans for completion of the building project at St Mary’s. • Completion of a New Electoral roll. • Regular production of the Parish Magazine.

St Mary’s Redevelopment Following completion of a first phase of building work at St Mary’s, this year has largely been about waiting for the building to dry out and planning for the next phase of work.

Further work required includes: • Completing the renewal of pointing to make the building waterproof • Internal decoration • Relaying the floor – probably with underfloor heating. • Providing new heating.

Standing Committee and PCC have now explored the options and agreed to try and complete the remaining work as quickly as possible, aiming for completion by summer 2021. This is a target date and is subject to Diocesan approval of some aspects of the work (ie by the ‘DAC’). It will be enabled by a loan from the Diocese, which will then be repaid from future income from the JAP Trust.

Review of Governance of the JAP Trust The trustees have reviewed arrangements for governance of the JAP Trust, this has included a careful independent review by the Rural Dean, Rev. Charles Hope.

Policies have been documented and are available in all three churches. In addition, action has been agreed as follows: • To publish minutes of trustee meetings. To be available with PCC minutes in each church. • To publish an additional, simplified, report with the PCC accounts to help show the contribution of the trust to parish finances.

Page 5 of 12 • To invite a member of the Above Derwent Parish Council joint trustee meetings as a non-voting member.

Newlands Futures Three issues were identified: 1. How the maintenance and general caretaking of the building and churchyard can be sustained into the future. 2. If that can be established, what wider uses could be made of the church and schoolroom. 3. As nearly all the regular congregation travel in for services at Newlands, how might the pattern of services better meet our needs as a parish.

A working group has explored these issues and reported to PCC and a way forward has been agreed.

Issue 1: In order to involve those who live in the valley, questionnaires were distributed along with the Feb/Mar Parish News. 14 replies were received. From these replies it is clear that there is a lot of support for the maintenance of Newlands, and for helping with the Parish News distribution although no one expressed an interest in involvement in the worshipping life of the church.

Issue 2: Until we can establish some workable new arrangements to ensure the maintenance of the buildings locally (without the need for constant travelling in from Braithwaite, Keswick and Threlkeld) we can’t make very much progress on this. However, we have decided to hold an open meeting for those who have responded to the questionnaire and other residents in the Schoolroom at 3pm on Saturday 13th April for further discussion on the suggestions made. This has been advertised in the Apr/May Parish News.

Issue 3: We agreed that the current pattern of monthly Morning Services at 10.15 every 4th Sunday should continue until the Harvest Festival service on 22nd September 2019. This will give 6 months lead in to a new arrangement and extends over the summer, making the most of the longer days and better weather. After that there will be a minimum of four services during the summer months. For example, during 2020 this might be: 1. Easter Day Sunrise service followed by breakfast buns etc. (in 2020 that would fall on 12th April 2. A Friends of Newlands Church service at 2pm on the Sunday before the bank holiday weekend at the end of May. 3. A Mission Community service with a barbeque, to be planned after the Convention (possibly Sunday 2nd August 2020) 4. A Songs of Praise type service on the final Sunday of the afternoon tea season.

The church will remain open as it is now, and continue to be available for Weddings, Funerals and Christenings.

Working Group: Rev Judith Ashurst; Alison Biggs; Margaret Throp; Peter Williams

St Herbert’s Church Hall Bookings St. Herbert’s Church hall continues to be a vibrant venue for community and private events, some weekly, others monthly.

WI meetings on Mondays, the thriving Toddlers group on Tuesdays, the ever increasing numbers at Coffee and Chat on Thursdays, Lacemakers once a month on Saturdays, the Above Derwent Flood Group and the Housing/Land Trust every so often. Recently the NoGoGondola group was able to hold constructive meetings with the LDNPA in the hall.On Fridays a small group meets to think about aspects of Christian living, and of course our “Messy Church” events could not take place without the facility of the hall . Sue Grant Safeguarding The Church of England is under intense scrutiny regarding its safeguarding arrangements, therefore each parish is asked to publish their local safeguarding arrangements.

Parish Display Safeguarding Information Our parish will display our adopted safeguarding arrangements.at each of our churches. 1. Our Safeguarding Policy: signed on behalf of the PCC:

Page 6 of 12 A formal statement of adoption of the House of Bishops’ ‘Promoting a Safer Church’

2. Our Safeguarding in the parish Who’s Who: Contact details of the PSO and churchwardens; and a list of our other local leaders and volunteers. In addition, we will publish Information on where to get help with child and adult safeguarding issues e.g. local authority contact details, domestic abuse and key helplines e.g. ChildLine.

Safer Recruitment and Training Our safeguarding policy, guidance handbook, and our training continues to help us when working with children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Our leaders and volunteers are being safely recruited according to the Church’s national guidance to ensure they have received the level of training required by the Church.

While waiting for training our leaders and volunteers will have access to the guidance handbook and trained leader help. Margaret Throp

Braithwaite CofE School The Christian ethos of Braithwaite School is very clear in the life of the school and we are delighted to continue to work closely with the school, parents and the wider community. I highlight of 2018-19 was achieving a rating of ‘good’ at the Ofsted inspection. This was well deserved recognition of the strengths of the school and a lot of hard work.

Looking to the future, Braithwaite will be building on current strengths by developing as a ‘Forest School’ which involves many opportunities for learning outdoors. A lottery grant of £10k is enabling new outdoor facilities to be established.

Along with many other small village schools Braithwaite is suffering because of demographic issues and the lack of affordable housing. Basically, there are not enough children in the village and this will continue to be a major challenge.

The school needs several new governors for Sept 2019. Anyone interested should get in touch with the headteacher, Mrs Laker.

Keswick Mission Community A report shared by Rev Charles Hope (Interim Mission Community Leader):

October 2018 saw an important milestone in the life of our Mission Community when we gathered together in Keswick Methodist Church for a joint act of worship as we ‘launched’ our Mission Community. Anglican and Methodist Churches in our area committing to work together in ways that are intentionally missional; that support each other in our mission and ministry; that support each other in prayer and other practical ways.

This mirrors the Ecumenical Covenant that exists in the county between the Salvation Army, the United Reformed Church, the Methodist Church and the Anglican Church, with the support of other Christian denominations in the country to work together in deeper ways to further the mission of the church. This is aimed to complement and move further the commitments of all of churches expressed in ‘Churches Together in Cumbria’.

The Ecumenical Covenant speaks of recognition of each others’ ministries, a desire to share in mission and witness, to share in prayer and worship. It speaks of a desire to be a more concrete expression of our unity in Christ.

So what have we been doing in the Keswick Mission Community?

Page 7 of 12 The church leaders meet every week to pray together. When possible, we have all been there, recognising that for Rev Sue Edwards this has been hard as she is a member of three mission communities (as her circuit of Keswick and Cockermouth covers the three mission communities of Binsey, Grasmoor and Keswick). But it has also been a delight to be joined by other people and especially Angus Whightman, the leader of the Kings Church here in Keswick.

The Steering Group has meant almost monthly. Our meetings begin with a sharing of ‘good news’ stories. This is important as it gives a focus to our prayers and knowledge of each other; it also allows for the sharing of ideas and good practice as part of our mutual support to each other. Larger churches can learn from smaller ones, one side of the area can support the other side, we are not so isolated after all.

Other matters the Steering Group has done: - Facilitated a meeting of church leaders and treasurers to share our 2017 Annual Accounts and so the stories behind the figures. This will be important going forward as Parish Offer / Methodist Tribute is being discussed at a more local level and so we will continue this in 2019. - Welcomed Rev Andy Murphie to Crosthwaite so it means that we now have a full team of church leaders – but during the vacancy we have continued to support each other (The Lenten activities between Braithwaite and Crosthwaite) and shared services (mainly the 8 o’clock between St John’s and Crosthwaite). - Facilitated sharing of training and expertise across the area. - Shared experience of running Messy Church and so St John’s learnt from Braithwaite as to how to ‘go for it’; the mutual support continues with a shared advert in the Reminder each month. - Shared training in how to lead worship that drew people from St John in the Vale and St John’s Keswick - Discussed how Deanery Network Youth Church could work in our area as a successor to Sudharshan we move to appointing a new worker in 2019. (The Diocese will pay all the salary costs of the worker, as a Deanery we pay the working expenses and working budget of the worker, who does not need to be ordained). - Begun tentative discussion on the Building Strategy so that we can find ways of making our buildings ‘blessings’ rather than ‘burdens’ in our ministry.

2019 then should be year when we move from talking and discussing into more doing and so our priorities and future activities include: - Worship together on festal occasions. - Sharing Holy Week with Bishop James. - Continue sharing ideas and experience, for example is setting up ‘friends’ groups for remote churches - Work with the Deanery, Grasmoor Mission Community and the Diocese at getting Network Youth going again, and in particular how that will work in Keswick. - Support the development, training, deployment and support of lay ministry across the area – we all have a vocation to serve! - Continue the Building Strategy work. - Continue the work on finance and discussing the Offer locally.

2019 is also the year in which we say farewell to Rev Sue Edwards as she retires. We wish her well and thank her for her work in our town, not only with the Methodist Church but also with CTiK and the Mission Community. 2019 is also the year in which the Methodist circuit changes to cover Workington and Whitehaven.

Mission Community is not about one more layer of administrative hassle. It is about how we can support each other in our local areas to be more effective in our mission and ministry as we learn from and support each other. It is about sharing together in mission and ministry in different ways.

Please pray for us as we work together in sharing and supporting each other.

***

Page 8 of 12 The God for All vision is the basis for the work of the Mission Communities

By 2020 every person in Cumbria of all ages and backgrounds will have had an opportunity to discover more of God and God’s purpose for their lives, so that they will discover more of Jesus and the Good News and become followers of Jesus within a Christian community.

At TBN we expect that KMC will have a significant impact on the parish in the longer term, but that the impact in 2019-20 will be limited.

Churches Together in Keswick Churches Together in Keswick (CTiK) is a bigger grouping than KMC as it includes the Catholics, Quakers, and Kings Church, who are not part of the county-level God for All partnership. It supports the Credit Union and Keswick Housing Trust as well as work on Fairtrade.

Inter-church relationships are good and CTiK does provide a potentially valuable forum. In terms of mission and collaboration, rather than finances and structures, there isn’t a sharp divide between CTiK and KMC, Angus Whiteman the pastor of King’s Church has been attending the KMC Starter Group as a CTiK representative.

Churchwardens Reports The Terriers and Inventories for the churches are up to date with only minor changes at Newlands and St Herbert's, but with significant updating after a major effort at St Mary's following the extensive repair work.

St Mary's Although the year started with St Mary's closed for the refurbishment, with great efforts from the contractor we were able to open again for Easter and have maintained the regular pattern of services ever since

In cooperation with the PCC the contribution from the "Friends of St. Mary's" has again been welcome in the life of the church, especially with regard to the internal furnishings and have been very supportive during the extensive repair work. Both parishioners and visitors have expressed their views about the next phase of the work and especially what to do (or not do) with the internal walls. We look forward to an interesting consultation with the DAC in terms of next steps.

Visitors continue to make favourable comments about the nature of the church and the peace and tranquillity to be found within both the church and the churchyard. Our thanks are due to all those who spend their time from month to month arranging flowers in the churches and attending to family graves. We also record our deep appreciation of the support of the Jessie Agnes Pearson Trust in helping care for and improve the church building and also its wider support for the Parish.

The Churchyard The condition of the churchyard continues to improve as our gardeners have kept the grassed areas in order and once again tackled collapsed walls.

St Herbert’s There has been little change over the year at St Herbert's. One or two niggling faults (e.g. lighting, water ingress, water heater leakage) have developed and have either been fixed or are being addressed and some minor repairs to the roof have been carried out, most noticeably the replacement of the cross at the North end of the roof ridge which we were able to undertake because of generous donations from one or two parishioners. Overall the building remains in good condition and we are still getting very complimentary comments about the attractiveness and ambience of the sanctuary. It continues to be well used by local community groups who appreciate the quality of the facilities and the warmth of welcome!

Page 9 of 12 Newlands (Report from Margaret Throp and Peter Williams)

The regular pattern of Newlands hosting Parish Communion services on the 4th Sunday of the month, using Common Worship and BCP alternately, continues. Congregations ranged from 11 – 49 with an average of 24.

There was one interment of ashes in an existing grave space and one christening. There were no weddings and no funerals.

The regular annual events – Church cleaning day: Friends service; pre-Christmas get together for the children, all took place, and routine checks of fire extinguishers and boiler have been undertaken.

We were able to run Sunday afternoon teas for six weeks in late summer – thanks to Kathy and Ken Sears who bore the brunt of the organisation, and also to everyone else who supported in any way. Whilst being fairly labour intensive it is a reasonably straightforward way to meet some of the parish’s financial shortfall. £545 was raised, and hopefully we may be able to do something similar in 2019.

As reported last year, a Quinquennial inspection was undertaken in 2017. Progress with this has been somewhat slow, but we do now have the Archdeacon’s permission to commence various minor works, and a faculty application covering the more major items was submitted to Diocesan Advisory Committee in December, and the consultation process is ongoing.

The Friends of Newlands Church group now has 53 members, and has a fund of some £10,300, although this and more will be required to meet the recommendations in the Quinquennial. Consequently, we are exploring the possibility of obtaining some grant aid to help with the costs which will be involved, but it does seem quite likely that some fund-raising activity may also be needed.

As always thanks to those who provide flowers and help with the teas, and especially to the small nucleus of people whose support continues and who do all the unseen things inside and out which make the church and its surroundings a place of welcome and a haven appreciated by so many people.

Having said that, notwithstanding the unique attributes of the church at Newlands, the current reality is that when holding services, we are reliant for a congregation on people from other parts of the parish, and most of those who in past years have been involved with the day to day running of the church are now finding it more and more difficult to continue doing so.

In order to consider how best to adapt to these circumstances a small subcommittee of the PCC has been set up to seek to find a viable future for Newlands. In the first instance the opinions of residents are being canvassed and hopefully things will progress during 2019 (see the proposals from the working group elsewhere in this report).

The Life of the Church & Parish The Vicar's report quite fully covers this area of our life together and the churchwardens highly appreciate the commitment, energy and vision which Judith brings to the leadership of our parish.

It would be remiss not to mention the passing of two stalwarts of the life of our parish, Trevor who died in office as churchwarden and Sylvia who contributed to the life of the parish in so many untold ways. Both were wonderful examples of what lives given to the service of others can accomplish and we miss them greatly.

The wardens also wish to express their appreciation of time, energy, talents and money given by so many people in the ongoing life of the worshipping community – thank you to you all!

Colin Grant Christine Lewis Margaret Throp Churchwardens March 2019

Page 10 of 12 Electoral Roll As required by C of E rules, a complete renewal of the Parish Electoral Roll has been carried out this year. From 120 members we now have 93. Many on the existing Roll had left the area, and as expected the Roll is shorter. But the encouraging aspect is that there are a few new members, and those who have now signed up have been reminded about their commitment to the church. Recently we have seen an increase in attendance and involvement, and we can hope that this will continue. Sue Grant Deanery Synod Three Deanery Synod meetings have been held in the year, covering among other things, Youth Work, Mission Communities and Finances . These meeting are an opportunity to hear about, and be encouraged by, what is happening in other parts of our Diocese. Sue Grant

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Treasurer's Report for Thornthwaite cum Braithwaite Annual Parish Meeting, April 2019

This year I have presented the financial data in a way designed to provide more transparency and to aid understanding. The changes and implications are fully detailed in the pre-amble to the financial report.

The serious concerns expressed last year about the general finances of the PCC continue to exist and although the PCC decided to maintain the level of Parish Offering, this was done in the knowledge of a probable impact on the small reserves we still have in place. Reliance on the resources of the JAP Trust to enable us to "balance our books" is also a continuing source of concern.

Giving to the work of the Parish during the year showed a modest increase when compared with the previous years. The significant reduction in our commitment to Parish Offering meant that in comparable terms we were able to operate with a very small surplus.

During the year the PCC continued to review income and spending on a regular basis using a monthly budgeting process. Unfortunately most of our major costs (heat, light, insurance and Parish Offering) are relatively fixed proving little scope for reduction. Ways to increase income, such as fund raising, increased use of the church hall with increased charges and revision of the cost of advertising in the Parish Paper have been put in place.

As the cost of the work at St. Mary's continues to rise it is possible that the JAP Trust may not be able to provide as much support to the wider aspects of the Parish. This would cause us to draw down our limited reserves virtually to zero which in turn might lead to curtailment of service to the community in which we live.

The local statistics on giving to the church have not changed over the year, so It remains a fact that continues to amaze me that, while there are 70+ households represented in our electoral roll, 50% of our planned giving income of about £15,000 comes from just 3 families and that 90% comes from just 9!

Can I please ask you, as you read this, to consider prayerfully your own response to the financial challenge of resourcing God's work in our Parish, and make whatever increases you can manage?

Colin Grant Hon. Treasurer

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